The Art of Revenge
by Pumpkin Punker
Summary: Revenge like love is a fickle emotion with twists and turns at all points. What happens when one mans quest for revenge sets off a chain reaction he can no longer control? Will he fix his mistakes or will he hide behind them?


Lucius Malfoy paced back in forth in front of the grand staircase in the Zabini manor. He had come here again to reason with her. To make her understand how completely unacceptable it was to even entertain the notion of exposing their affair to the world. How disastrous it would be not only to both their reputations but to the reputations of their sons as well. Practically every man in the wizarding world had heard about the legendary bed of Mrs. Zabini but all the smart men knew that you never married her if you wanted to stay alive. She hadn't been widowed seven times, all under mysterious circumstance, and Lucius didn't plan on becoming the eighth. The affair had started simple enough, a small smile at a cocktail party, a friendly brush at the ministry, and had coupled one night when Narcissa was feeling particularly icy towards him. He had left the manor in a huff and had somehow found himself, albeit several drinks later, in that famous bed. The affair had been passionate but short lived. When Lucius suggested that they break it off before they were exposed she had lost it. She couldn't lose him, she cried, she pouted, and then the threats started. What if Narcissa were to find out? What if Draco were to find out? This had to end tonight and he wasn't leaving until she accepted that they were through.

"Lucius darling," she ran down the last few steps and threw her arms around him. He put his hands on her arms and moved her away from him.

"I came here to talk to you not to kiss you and you know this." He started pacing again desperation creeping into his voice and agitating his movements. "You have to understand that I can never see you again after this. We cannot breathe a word about this to anyone. It would hurt too many lives if it were to get out."

"Lucius I already told you that I have no interest in ending our relationship," She shrugged her petite shoulders nonchalantly and walked small circles around him. "We can be together forever, you and me." She trailed her fingers along the hem of his robes and tried to part them. He shoved her hands away and recoiled in disgust, the look on his face contorted with anger. She let out a tiny chuckle, "I do love your angry side Lucius. Don't be angry though Blaise will be home soon and we can tell him together. I'm positive he will help us tell Draco and just think once that business is taken care of you can come live with me here. Or we can give Narcissa the boot and live in your Manor. As long as I am with you I'll be happy."

Lucius stared at the women in front of him in total shock and disbelief. She wasn't getting the picture here and he didn't think she ever would. She had locked him in her sights and apparently wasn't ever going to let him go. He had to end this before Blaise came home and unearthed this whole damned affair. There was no way that he could let Draco and Narcissa find out about this much less the entire wizarding community. They were just recovering from the shame of Voldemort's defeat and he couldn't let his family be disgraced any further.

"I'm only going to say this once more," Lucius had his wand drawn now more certain than ever of what he had to do. "I am ending this affair now. Either you can accept that or you can die with the delusion that I love you. The choice is yours but I'm running out of time and patience woman so I suggest you choose soon."

Lucius received a stunning spell in the chest for an answer followed by another and another. Standing over him she smiled coldly and he wondered for a moment how many of her dead husbands had seen that smile before their untimely demise.

"I don't think you understand Lucius. It's never over until I decide that it's over. I'm not letting you just leave me like this."

"I'm sorry but you leave me no other options." Lucius waved his wand and spoke those damning words and watched and the smile became a small "o" as the famous widow Mrs. Zabini fell to the floor never to get back up.

Lucius gathered himself and rushed out the door. He was positive that he had not been seen and he was even more certain that he had beaten Blaises return. He rushed down the path and apparated just as soon as he had crossed the boundaries. He returned to the manor and went straight to his room feigning a stomach virus and a need for sleep.

Blaise had apparated home just seconds after Lucius had left and was walking up to the door in a jovial mood. He'd had a spectacularly good day at work and was excited to share the news with his mother that he was being sent abroad for a special assignment. He stopped at the sight of the tramped flowers along the side of the path. He would have to have a word with his mother about the apparent lack of caring by their gardener. He continued his way up and stopped again at the sight of the front door ajar. He wrinkled his forehead and drew his wand walking cautiously towards the entrance of his childhood home. It wasn't like his mother to leave the front door open for the whole world to see. She was a trim and neat woman who respected her privacy tremendously and didn't needlessly flaunt herself to the world. He pushed his way through the door and his whole world turned gray at the sight of his mother dead on the floor her wand still in her hand.

"Mom please say you're okay." Blaise was screaming now the tears falling down his face. She was all he had left in this world and he couldn't lose her. Not like this. "Mom please wake up." But Blaise could see that all his pleas were for naught. There was nothing that he could do for her at this point. He should have been here to take care of her. He should have been here to protect her. He called all the house elves together and began to question them one by one. All of them reported hearing Mistress in an argument with a male voice but none of them had actually seen the man and since they hadn't been called for they had wisely stayed out of sight. One timid elf came forward and tugged on Blaise's robe sleeve.

"Master I was out in the garden pulling the weeds when I saw a blond man running down the path. This isn't the first time the blond man has been to the house it hasn't been."

There was only one wizard he could think of with blond hair that would be leaving the manor. Blaise had seen Lucius Malfoy leave their home several weeks ago at an odd time but hadn't thought much about it. His mother and Lucius were on many committees together and frequently met to discuss some late detail or another for something they had been planning. Now Blaise was starting to see that maybe some of those late night visits were not for planning parties. As the pieces began to fall in place a dull rage began to fill Blaise's chest. He ordered the elves to move his mother's body to the parlor and to summon the ministry and the mediwitches at St. Mungos. He went into the library and poured himself a stiff drink from the decanter next to the chair and waited for the Aurors and the Minister to come.

Kingsley and Harry walked up to the Zabini residence with somber hearts. They weren't sure what they were walking into but from what the mediwitch had reported it was most likely a killing. Harry wasn't exactly fond of Blaise from all their encounters in Hogwarts but he took his job very seriously and wasn't going to let his feelings get in the way of him figuring out what had happened.

As they walked through the door Blaise met them and took them into the parlor to his mother. He held back the retch and bile that was building up in his throat and recounted to Harry everything that had transpired since he had arrived home including what the house elf had said about a blond man running from the home. For reasons unknown to himself yet he withheld his suspicions of Lucius Malfoy being the possible culprit. He wanted to be positive that it was him that had hurt his mother before he took care of it himself. After all she hadn't been widowed seven times on accident. Blaise had been there all seven times when the beatings would start and the abuse got worse. Eventually the abuse would get so bad that Blaise would have to intervene and take care of the husband for her. She would swear off husbands for a while and Draco would rest easy knowing that she was safe. Then as always after a period of time had passed she would be right back where she started again.

"Blaise…" Harry started again and Blaise's head snapped up to meet the green eyes with his own.

"I'm sorry Potter I seem to have been lost in a thought there." There was no emotion in the voice and the wild look in his eyes had Harry a little worried.

"Well I was just saying that we will look for your mother's murder as vigilantly as we possibly can. If you remember any other details please let us know immediately. You can owl me or the minister at any time of day and we'll receive the message."

"Yes well I expect that you and the Minister are needed to attend to other business. Forgive me for being abrupt but I really feel like I need to be alone at this moment in time."

"Of course," Kingsley spoke in his deep voice, "but should anything come up that you need help with please don't hesitate to contact Mr. Potter or myself. We're here to help you son so please let us if we can."

Harry and Kingsley walked down the pathway each lost in their own thoughts. Once they had apparated back to the Ministry and were securely locked away in Kingsley's office they broke the silence with jumbled thoughts.

"He knows more than he's saying. I could read that much all over his face but he's an extremely cryptic and solitary boy from what I remember." Harry rubbed his temples and closed his eyes against the headache that was forming. "It doesn't help either that his mom is a notorious play witch and prone to having many relationships at once."

Meanwhile Blaise had told the elves to turn away all further visitors and had locked himself in his mother's room. He was methodically searching every square inch of the chamber looking for any clue or evidence that Lucius had been there. He had almost given up when he notice that one post on the bed wasn't quite lined up with the rest of the bed. He blasted it with his wand and pulled the folded letters from inside of it. He opened the most recent one and the rage returned at what he saw inside:

My Dearest,

The last night I spent with you was beyond divine as always but I must inform you that we cannot possibly continue with our affair. It would be devastating to all involved if we were to be found out by our families or gods forbid the wizarding community. It breaks my heart to have to come to the conclusion but there is no other way. Please understand that I may have made many promises while we were rolling around your bed but this is the most rational ending to make. There is no way that we could ever entertain a future together and to think of such is the thoughts of true delusion. I must ask that from here on out you cease any communication with me outside of a professional nature. I must also insist that you never breathe a word of this to a living soul as you agreed upon when we began. I will always hold you dearly inside my heart but that is the only place you can be.

Good bye forever and a day,

Lucius

He turned the paper over and read the terse and emotional reply she had written him:

Lucius,

It is with heavy heart that I inform you that I must refuse your termination of our relationship. This isn't one of your many business transactions Lucius. You can't just dismiss me and expect me to go away quietly. You promised me the world and now you're trying to pull it from under my feet. I love you far too much for you to leave me now. No matter what we will be together trust and believe I will see to that.

Forever yours

The last reply had indicated that Lucius would be coming to talk to her in person and that there would be serious consequences if she were to refuse to agree to his terms. Blaise sat on the bed and crumpled the papers in his hands. He knew that the letters were enough to get Lucius sent to Azkaban but it wasn't enough. Lucius deserved to suffer heavily for the damage that he had caused those around him. Lives shattered because he couldn't keep it in his pants or commit once it was out. Blaise stood up and strode from the room and began formulating his plan for how he was going to take Lucius Malfoy down.

A few days later Draco stood next to Blaise with his hand on his shoulder as his best mate lowered his mother's coffin into the ground with his wand for the last time. The headstone as large and ornate and Draco had seen to its commission personally. While he had never personally cared for Blaise's mother he knew that she had meant everything to Blaise. The two boys had spent long nights together at Hogwarts while Blaise had shed many tears over her welfare and treatment at the hands of her husbands. With the last wandful of dirt laid over the grave they retreated back into the manor to greet the last of the guests that remained. Narcissa hurried over to them and pulled Blaise into another gentle hug. She looked at the two boys who had grown into men overnight under her mostly watchful eye. She and Blaise's mother had been friends growing up and while she loved her dearly she knew in her heart that motherly instincts didn't come naturally to her. So of course Narcissa had stepped up and taken place of the mother role whenever Blaise had needed it. Her heart ached for the poor boy who only ever wanted his mother's approval over that of her husbands.

"Are you okay son?" She asked him, her eyes gently searching his face. "Do you want me and Draco to stay the night here with you tonight or do you want to come back to the Manor with us?" It was a statement not a question and he knew it, but the thought of going to HIS home stirred deep feelings of revulsions within him so he begrudgingly agreed to let Draco remain the night with him at his home.

Draco insisted that they go out to dine that evening and Blaise too weary to argue settled upon getting drunk and trying to black out the dark mood hanging over him. They settled on the leaky cauldron since it served Blaise's favorite comfort food and the fire whiskey came cheap. They were several shots in when they saw the Golden Trio walk in and take the booth furthest from them, Ron cast a wary look in their direction and threw a protective arm around Hermione's shoulders.

"Look the Weasel found himself a weaselette after all," Blaise slurred into his drink and shot a smirk towards Ron who had turned at the sound of Blaise's voice.

"Yeah, too bad it has to be such an ugly one though." Draco laughed at the red hue creeping up onto Hermione's face and the way that Ron bristled at his words. "All though I think I might would take her around the world just once to show her what a real Wizard is capable of. Can't imagine that Ron is anything worth gossiping about the next morning." He laughed even harder when it took both Harry and Hermione to pull Ron back in his seat and prevent him from coming over to their table.

"Come now Draco, just because she'd make a good fuck doesn't mean you've got to be embarrassing her." Blaise was positively bursting with laughter and how red both Hermione's and Ron's faces had gone. "Of course I don't know that I would want to be the fourth to their trio."

Harry stood up and walked calmly over to the table. He'd dealt with drunks before and he'd dealt with Blaise and Malfoy before. He'd just never done both at the same time and combined the two.

"Come on now guys," Harry said quietly. "There's no reason to make a scene or be vulgar we're all just trying to enjoy ourselves here." He put a firm hand on the shoulders of both and looked them both over. "Clearly you're both plastered here but let's just try to keep it civil okay?"

Draco looked and Blaise and in that instant they both stood up throwing Harry's hand off their shoulders. They made their way from the table and to the door but before they made it out Draco swooped down and planted a particularly passionate kiss on Hermione's small surprised mouth. He and Blaise walked out of the Cauldron laughing their arses off as Hermione sat in stunned silence and Harry tried to keep Ron from flying out of the booth.

"Call me sometime if you want some real attention you Gryffindor prude." Draco yelled over his shoulders and walked a few steps forward before he stopped and looked horrified at Blaise. "Mate, did I really just kiss the Gryffindor princess and invite her to my bed?"

"You did mate, you really did." Blaise was doubled over with drunken laughter and glee. He had forgotten all about Lucius and his mother for an instance and almost felt normal again. That was until they made it back to Blaise's place and all those horrid emotions came flooding back.

"Well shall we?" Draco pulled Blaise towards the house and up to his empty bedroom. "I'm leaving you here for the night and I'll be in the spare room down the hall. If you need me just holler Mate."

Blaise sat alone on his bed torn emotions rolling through his thoughts. His best mate's father was responsible for the murder of his Mother and he couldn't bring himself to tell him. Blaise knew the shame was more than Draco would be able to bear right now but he still felt like he needed to make Lucius pay for what he had done. He needed a way to make Lucius pay without ever having to let Draco know for what. But how, was the continuing question in his mind. That's when the lightning bolt stuck and he knew exactly what it was he needed to do. He knew how he would make Lucius pay.


End file.
